Stop handing out business cards.
Hand out a book.
A professionally written, published book is the most credible thing you can put in someone's hand at a meeting, a conference, or a first conversation. We write it. You own it.
A business card costs about ten cents and ends up in a drawer or a trash can. A book costs about three dollars to print and gets kept, read, and handed to someone else. The per-unit cost is thirty times higher. The shelf life is not even comparable.
That is what a Paperback Business Card is. A professionally written, properly published book, 10,000 to 12,000 words, built around your expertise and designed to do exactly what a business card is supposed to do: make someone remember you and want to work with you.
Being a published author changes a conversation. Not because a book makes you smarter than you were before it existed, but because it signals something: you have done the work, organized your thinking, and put it on the record. That is worth something in a room full of people who have not.
Delton de Armas is the author of five published books of his own. Every one of them started as a conversation worth having in writing. That is the service ICNU Press offers: we take your expertise and turn it into a book you are proud to hand someone.
The Process
Nine steps. Eight to ten weeks.
Every project follows the PEN Process: Produce, Enhance, Neaten. You share your expertise. We handle the rest.
Stage 1
Produce: Shape your idea.
- 1Clarify the message. Define your audience, your purpose, and the core idea that will position you as the go-to expert.
- 2Build the blueprint. Working title, chapter framework, and a simple roadmap so the book flows naturally.
- 3Draft the book. Using your talks, notes, interviews, or transcripts, we write the manuscript. You review. We refine.
Stage 2
Enhance: Elevate the quality.
- 4Smooth it out. Edit for clarity, tone, and flow so your voice comes through naturally.
- 5Refine and polish. Your feedback incorporated, the draft tightened for maximum impact.
- 6Prepare for print. Consistent formatting and design standards applied throughout.
Stage 3
Neaten: Launch with confidence.
- 7Format like a pro. Interior layout for Kindle and print via KDP, ready for readers.
- 8Proof and finalize. Physical proof reviewed, last-minute adjustments made.
- 9Publish and deliver. ISBN assigned, uploaded to Amazon, first author copies ordered.
Your role in all of this: share your expertise and show up for two or three conversations. We write, design, format, and publish. In eight to ten weeks, you are holding a book with your name on the cover.
Start My BookPricing
Two ways to engage.
Professional ghostwriting typically runs from fifteen cents to two fifty per word. We deliver at the bottom of the market for writing only and the middle of the market for the complete package.
Writing Only
The manuscript, delivered clean.
35¢/word
$3,500 to $4,200 total · 10,000 to 12,000 words
- Professionally written manuscript based on your talks, notes, or interview sessions
- Two rounds of revision
- Final delivery: clean Word file, ready for your own designer or publisher
- ISBN, cover design, layout, and publishing not included
- Six to eight week delivery
Complete Package
Written, designed, published, and in your hands.
70¢/word
$7,000 to $8,400 total · 10,000 to 12,000 words
- Everything in Writing Only, plus:
- Custom-designed cover tailored to your content and audience
- Interior formatting and layout for Kindle and print via KDP
- ISBN assignment under ICNU Press imprint
- Publishing coordination including Amazon upload and first author copies
- Up to two additional revision cycles covering both text and design
- Eight to ten week delivery
Payment: 50% down, 25% at first proof, 25% at completion.
Who It's For
Anyone with expertise worth sharing.
If you have a methodology, a story, or a perspective that shapes how you work with clients, you have a book. Most people just have not written it yet.
Consultants
Turn your methodology into a tangible credential.
Hand a prospect your book instead of a proposal and you walk in at a different level than anyone else in the room.
Speakers
Give your audience something to take home from the stage.
A book at the back table sells your next engagement before the applause stops. It also earns you a speaking fee conversation you could not have with a brochure.
Coaches and Advisors
Demonstrate expertise before the first call even happens.
Clients who read your book before they hire you arrive already convinced. The sales conversation is shorter and the relationship starts from a better place.
Nonprofit Founders
Transform your origin story into a donor and volunteer recruitment tool.
At three dollars a copy, a book is more cost-effective than most fundraising materials and far more likely to get read, kept, and passed along.
A Note on Nonprofit Use
A donor brochure tells someone what you do. A book tells them why it matters, where you came from, and what you believe. That distinction changes giving conversations. It changes board recruitment conversations. It changes the way funders think about you when they are deciding between organizations with similar missions. If you are running a nonprofit, the story you carry in your head is worth putting on paper.
You already have the expertise.
Let's put it in print.
Start with a conversation. Tell us what you do, who you serve, and what you would want someone to walk away knowing after reading your book. We will take it from there.